News from the Second Amendment foundation:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has joined in a federal lawsuit challenging Riverside County, California and Sheriff Stanley Sniff over the county’s handgun carry license policies, which plaintiffs assert are unconstitutional.

Joining SAF in this legal action are the Calguns Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation and Madison Society Foundation, and a private citizen, Arie Van Nieuwenhuyzen, a legal resident alien who lives in Riverside County. They are represented by Attorney George M. Lee of Seiler Epstein Ziegler & Applegate, a San Francisco law firm.

“This is not the first time we’ve been involved in a legal action on behalf of a legal resident alien,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyzen came to this country decades ago and has lived in Riverside for more than 30 years. While he retains his citizenship in The Netherlands, he has raised a family here and operated a business. He is a productive member of the community.

“We’ve successfully defended the rights of other non-citizens in the past,” he added, “and every win is a victory for the Second Amendment.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Sheriff’s Department policy of not allowing non-citizens to apply for a carry permit is unconstitutional, and that it also violates California state law.

“What Riverside County is doing not only violates the Second Amendment, but also the Fourteenth Amendment,” Gottlieb observed. “This is a situation that simply begs for attention, and we’re delighted to be working with our California colleagues to straighten out this mess.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. This could be a slippery slope. The sheriff will probably loose this one and then California will issue ccw permits to illegal aliens just like they do drivers license. The Cal. socialists are a nutty group that I put nothing past.

    • I wonder if it is legal for other states to charge CA residents a large fee when they try and move to new states. Imagine Arizona saying that if you are moving from CA to AZ, you first have to pay a $20,000 fee to help the state overcome the eventual communist policies that state will take on due to their idiotic voting.

    • Whether or not there is a right to a CCW, the fact is that all applicants are entitled to equal treatment. Sheriff Sniff will not consider an application by a noncitizen, notwithstanding state law and federal law providing such persons the right to own firearms. That is all that this case is about; it is under the 14th Amendment, mostly, not the 2nd.

  3. “Joining SAF in this legal action are the Calguns Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation and Madison Society Foundation, and a private citizen, Arie Van Nieuwenhuyzen, ”

    Meanwhile, in Fairfax, Virginia!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re72di5phM0

    But you can bet your money that once the hard part is done, the NRA will swoop in to claim credit like they did in Heller.

    ““We’ve successfully defended the rights of other non-citizens in the past,” he added, “and every win is a victory for the Second Amendment.””

    The NRA on the other hand proudly endorsed the 1968 GCA which required he jump through arbitrary hoops to own a firearm. A law it still supports.

  4. Alienage is a “suspect classification” and has been for a lifetime. Similar laws have been stricken in several states on Equal Protection grounds, and this policy is even more suspect since it has no legislative backing.

    The SAF is the king of these lawsuits and will prevail.

    • Never fire unless your muzzle is within an inch of the target.

      Never drive a car which could break down, or on a road which could flatten a tire.

      Never got for a walk without many tons of battleship overhead to protect you from meteors.

  6. So they won’t allow non-citizens to carry, I live in a state that denies citizens the ability to carry. Not a single person, you’ll get a “Nope, nice try but never gonna happen”.

  7. Good. Flood the lawsuit ‘pipeline’ with challenges and get the reversal ball ‘a rolling…

  8. Riverside county will just go the way of LA county and just not allow anyone to carry(unless they pay into the sheriffs re-election campaign).

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